Half-Life 2 gets a new release date on CNN Money doesn't actually fulfill
the promise in its own headline of a definitive release date for Half-Life 2,
though they do quote Valve's Doug Lombardi in saying that Valve is currently
"targeting this summer for the completion" of their eagerly anticipated shooter
sequel. The article summarizes the Source-engine source code theft that
contributed to this situation, and goes on to quote Troika's Jason Anderson as
saying that Vampire: The Masquerade Ė Bloodlines is likewise delayed, reporting
that the upcoming vampire-themed RPG that uses the same technology is now
expected no sooner than Spring 2005, after originally being slated for a 2004
release (they also predict the announcement below).

Those of us who actually play games (not fucking doll simulators.. good god people) for PC, know our PCs in and out, a lot of us built the damn things, and a 4 year old's head would fucking melt if they tried to operate them. Though idiots can run a PC, idiots are not generally PC gamers. Idiots can run consoles, so can four year olds, and they both seem to gravitate towards them. Once again, doll simulators are NOT FUCKING COMPUTER GAMES. Gaming PCs are not designed with fucking illiterate webtoe, skunk eating, yokels in mind. Consoles are. Look at the "STREAMLINED FOR SKUNK-EATERS" Deus EX: IW...

So what's the minimum spec for each game?I read somewhere that the minimum spec for DOOM for example was a 1GHz Pentium 4 with 512Mb RAM and a GeForce 3.That's not so astronomical anymore is it?

That's what they said, but you wouldn't want to play it at the fps and video quality possible with those specs.

Also, when the deathmatch was demonstrated at Quakecon to still be playable the resolution was turned down to 640x480, and that was while using the latest Geforce cards at the time (GF FX 5900, I think).

I'm probably wrong but I think both games are DX9, so you might need a DX9 vid card to play them PROPERLY (decent graphics/resolution at a playable FPS).

It's really surprising to see what meeger resources that consoles have to pull from yet they turn out games that look really good. They aren't up to computer standards but I guess programming titles that you know exactly how they will function on every box makes things a bit smoother. PC programmers must go crazy testing graphics drivers with 30 different cards on their games. Let alone sound cards, OS's, etc.

STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, GET OUT OF THAT BED AND GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR, GET OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW, RIGHT HERE: GET DOWN ON THE CEMENT, I DONT CARE IF YOU'RE NUDE, GET DOWN ON THE CEMENT, I DON'T CARE IF ITS FREEZING! WHERES THE DRUGS, WE KNOW YOU GOT THE DRU

> The main reason both companies have delayed their games is because the minimum specs for running each game properly are still so astronomical that it is just good business to wait for (basic system spec) technology to catch up, rather than risk releasing the game and not have enough people upgrade to play their games, and allow them to recoup the cost of development. So what's the minimum spec for each game?I read somewhere that the minimum spec for DOOM for example was a 1GHz Pentium 4 with 512Mb RAM and a GeForce 3.That's not so astronomical anymore is it?

Explain to your network admin that you need access to websites to do your job (or else explain it to your boss. He usually doesn't know shit about anything anyways, so if you tell him that you CAN'T do the job they're paying you for, he'll get shit fixed quick), and they should just give you an all-access account. Yes, you'll still have to type in a user ID / password , but if it's been set up well, that should only be once.

If they worry about you going to sites that have nothing to do with your job, just shrug and remind them that they're logging your web access anyways, so they can always check up on you.

I've never had any problem getting such an account from network admins in several companies.

As for that teamXbox article :

The graphic chip will contain not only a graphics rendering core but up embedded DRAM acting as a frame buffer that is big enough to handle an image that is 480i and can be 4 times over sampled and double buffered

Yeah, it's called cache guys. Welcome to the 1990s.

However, current specs plan to use 256 MB RAM, big enough for next-generation visuals which are all about computational power rather than large storage

Which goes to show that they really have no clue what they're talking about. Since the Xbox2 isn't due out until, what, 2005 / 2006 or so, Microsoft will be lagging behind the times again with their little toy. I have no doubt that games in two years will EAGERLY devour 512MB to 1 Gig of memory. Putting 256MB in your box is just plain stupid. I guess Ion's next game will once again have small shitty maps, and we'll hear Warren complaining about "oh, if only we'd had 256MB more memory..."

id see the HL2 movies and realise D3 is lacking in interactivity and decent content.

Valve watch the D3 trailer and realise HL2 needs work on it's lighting (especially of textures, hence the last source movie released), models and quality of model animation.

The main reason both companies have delayed their games is because the minimum specs for running each game properly are still so astronomical that it is just good business to wait for (basic system spec) technology to catch up, rather than risk releasing the game and not have enough people upgrade to play their games, and allow them to recoup the cost of development.

Not a conspiracy theory really. I'm just sick of hearing about how the theft of a copy of the source code/entire game has caused any sort of delay whatsoever.

Myst really sucked me in. I also spent a lot of time playing some weird game called megarace... It was like a racing TV show where you had to kill each other. And some crazy ass TV host would announce and shit... Wow I am going to pop that one in right now I think.

Xbox Next The Graphic ChipThe graphic chip will be based on the the R500. This VPU has been in design at ATIís Marlborough, Mass. office. It'll be fully compatible with DirectX 9's PS and VS 3.0 and the next version of DirectX: DX10, the same suite of APIs that will be used in Longhorn.

What nobody is telling you and you'll know about this first, here on TeamXbox, is the revolutionary approach of the Xbox 2 to deal with today's biggest problem in graphics chips: memory bandwidth.

The graphic chip will contain not only a graphics rendering core but up embedded DRAM acting as a frame buffer that is big enough to handle an image that is 480i and can be 4 times over sampled and double buffered. Yeah, we all remember Bitboys but this time you can bet this is for real. This solution will finally make possible HDTV visuals with full screen Anti-Aliasing on.

The technology also supports up to 512 MB of external memory on a 256-bit bus. However, current specs plan to use 256 MB RAM, big enough for next-generation visuals which are all about computational power rather than large storage.

I'd go there and make sure that was all of it, but my company recently started using Websense to block webpages in certain categories. And they went completely overboard with the category "Games."

Instead of just blocking sites that let you play games, they blocked every site that has do with games, not playing them, like news sites such as Bluesnews, which is only not blocked now since someone spoke up about it. I can't even visit Nintendo.com, and I work at a newspaper where I layout a tech section each week and I need to go to these sites to get info and screenshots, not play games, oh man is it annoying.

Anyone else have this problem at work? I can just submit a request to remove blocks on certain sites that I need for my job, but there are just too many to count, basically any game news site, xbox offical site, ps2, official game websites, and I'd have to use a password unless they unblock it to everyone.

That actually raises a good point. Obviously a standard TV isn't going to be able to show a resolution of 1024x768, but is that plain television then capable of actually showing an anti-aliased picture? Or would it's lack of resolution hamper it in that aspect?

Well, the image wouldn't actually be transmitted to the TV until after being blown-up and then reduced. I don't know of a monitor that can handle the high-resolution sizes of FSAA rendering, yet the technology is still usable on PCs. I don't think there would be a real problem.

IMO, the next-gen of consoles should output at 640x480 minimum with 4xFSAA.

In all honesty, probably Pong. I played that dumbass game for yonks, in all it's green glory.

The first real computer video game that really hooked me was probably... I don't know, Centipede, Pacman, Zaxxon, Robin to the Rescue, any one of those, and quite a few I didn't mention. I played everything in those days.

Creston

Edit : than raising the default output resolution to a size that most TVs don't like very much

That actually raises a good point. Obviously a standard TV isn't going to be able to show a resolution of 1024x768, but is that plain television then capable of actually showing an anti-aliased picture? Or would it's lack of resolution hamper it in that aspect?

You are aware that they are, in essence, the same thing right? Just a different way of doing it. There is no difference graphically between 800x600 with 2xFSAA and 1600x1200 without FSAA. At least, if my ancient definition of AA is still how they do it. (Ie, 800x600 with 4xFSAA means the image is drawn at 4x800x600, or 3200x2400, then compressed back into your 800x600 screen. This compression is what removes all the jaggies)

Quite aware. However, FSAA is a much more console-friendly fix for jagged lines than raising the default output resolution to a size that most TVs don't like very much. Maybe when the majority of TVs around the world become HDTV-compliant we can see 1600x1200 console games.

Until then, console devs know how to deal with the limitations of their chosen format; they've been dealing with them for 20+ years, after all.

Anyone remember that little game called Rock and Roll racing? Another great title for the SNES. Loved that game and recently came to find it was made by Rockstar Games, same guys who made the GTA games. Anyone else play that game? And the old hockey games... Ahhh...memories.

Plenty of PC games in there too...Remember Leisure Suit Larry? Doom, Civilization, Wing Commander... come to think of it, I think the first 2 wing commanders were probably my favorite games of all time. Syndicate was pretty dang fun too.

Haven't had a game grab hold of me like the WC's in a long time. Secret of Monkey Island 1 & 2 were a ton of fun. Oooo! Secret weapons of the Luftwaffe! Loved that game. I wish I had a tally of every game I ever played. Would be fun to go down the list.

What was the very first video game you played that hooked you?

Mine was F-19 Stealthfighter by Microprose. Played that for hours and hours. I remember the box like it was yesterday, it had the F-19 backlit with a purple light so you couldn't see many features of the plane.

Ha ha ha! I have nothing against 4 year olds... most of the ones I know/have met are charming. However, the 4 year old intellect almost perfectly mirrors the mental capacity of the aduld stupids.EDIT: "(i'm sure some smart gamers play it too)"I would say based on your past posts you fit into that category... PS good burn on EA lol

STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, GET OUT OF THAT BED AND GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR, GET OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW, RIGHT HERE: GET DOWN ON THE CEMENT, I DONT CARE IF YOU'RE NUDE, GET DOWN ON THE CEMENT, I DON'T CARE IF ITS FREEZING! WHERES THE DRUGS, WE KNOW YOU GOT THE DRU

But the most involving console game I ever played was the original Shadowrun for the Super Nintendo

God that game was so awesome. Even though it was linear as hell, it was just so much FUN to play. Great combat, fit the Shadowrun universe well, lots of humor (heh, like using the strobe light to send the Vampires into seizures ), absolutely fantastic office building levels (with glass that shattered when you fired through it!!!), it was just amazing. I replayed it a few years ago, just before I finally said goodbye to my Super Nintendo, and it was just as awesome then as it was the first time I played it.

If there would be one game that I would like to see come out on the PC, it would be a Shadowrun RPG.

Please, someone?

Creston

Edit : Park that same dumbass in front of any gaming rig (pc), and tell them to configure sound, video, controls, etc. for a game like Far Cry. You will hear a grinding sound; you will see steam emit from their ears.

Stop generalizing Moog. I have four MCPs, have been in IT for over ten years, I can probably build a PC blindfolded by now, and yet I happened to like the Sims. Quite a bit even. Just because YOU don't like a game doesn't mean that that's the opinion of the average PC Gamer.For that matter, the Sims was actually a fucking beast to get to operate well, since it was published by EA. It took me quite awhile to finally figure out what was causing the game to crash so often.I'll agree on the Deer Hunter analogy though. I think that doesn't even install, it just runs off the CD.